For Once, Then Something ...

New Year

2006-01-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

After a long time, a new year celebration that brought with it everything I like.

Highland Single Malt on the rocks - with Talat Aziz playing in the background
Sumptuous dinner - mainly comprising of slain live-stock, whose supreme sacrifice made my day, errrr... night
A drive down the scenic beach road and beer on the sea-side cafe
To top it all - a prolonged overnite game of 29

Here is wishing the regular readers (whose total number on the last count was one, including myself) and the casual passer-bys a very happy new year.

A Humble Thank You Note

2005-10-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you for paving the way for me to be born free and live freely. For the gift of independence, that all of us take as a granted birth right.

Thank you for removing the burden of servitude from the shoulders of my forefathers.

Thank you for leading the biggest mass uprising in human history, for showing how a nation can stand up & defend itself against an imperialist superpower.

Thank you for making the Indians believe in themselves to achieve what was deemed impossible.

Thank you for the pride that makes my chest swell, at being branded as a citizen of India.

Thank you for the visions of society, economy & nation-building – that has inspired countries and generations for the past half century.

Thank you for giving us the courage to raise our voices against the corrupt & the unjust in our daily lives. And the belief that our voices can make a difference.

Thank you for the absolute gem called The Story of My Experiments With Truth.

Thank you for the eye-openers on religion, God & spirituality. For teaching us the virtue of loving our fellow human beings.

Thank you for leaving behind the Gandhian Legacy.

Contrary to what ignorant critics say (and leave one wondering about their credibility to do so), You are the greatest human being & leader of masses, to have walked this earth in flesh & blood.

On this day, I show you my gratitude and pay a heart-felt tribute to the father of our nation.

Update: While most of the blogsphere is hell bent upon tearing apart Gandhian Policy on this day, some of them even acting wise guy to denounce Gandhiji completely - Gawker's post makes me hopeful that there are still people around, who undestand the greatest leader of the masses.

Discriminations on the Home Front

2005-09-26T02:29:00.000-07:00

Being born an Indian gives me the distinct advantage of being able to live in the best place on earth. The flip side is, I have the inevitable brown skin, which almost always puts me on the wrong side of racial discrimination. While abroad, the discrimination results in several culminations; thankfully most of them physically harmless. Ugly stares from ignorant bums who think all brown-skinned dudes are terrorists by default, extra number of friskingsat the airports - we have experienced all these and have come to accept it as common place.

In a nutshell, facing discrimination outside your country of origin does not appear to be such a big deal, considering the enormous ignorance prevalent in the western world.

But what is unfortunate is the kind of discrimination we face at home front, as compared to people with non-brown skins. Have you ever tried to enter one of those pubs, which has a strict "No Stags" policy on weekends? We, the brown skinned SOBs don't get to enter these watering holes on weekends (that is, unless accompanied by a member of the fairer sex). But when a couple of white skinned dudes walk in (of course, as stags), the burly bouncers bow reverently and let them pass. Not sure about other cities, but I have seen this happen a lot in Chennai & Bangalore. When questioned, theie responses are the same. "No stags allowed for reasons of discipline & security". What the heck does this mean? What makes the foreigners more disciplined and less disturbance-creating as compared to us, to earn them this special privilege?

Makes me wonder, how can these pub/club/bar owners discrimate against brown-skinned Indians, inside India itself and get away with it? India, by constitutional decree, does not allow or encourage discrimination. If at all there is any discrimination in India; I, by virtue of my brown skin; should be on the right side of it and definitely should not be the one being discriminated against !!

Loser vs Loser

2005-09-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

Bollywood at its Worst

2005-09-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Rediff has started a message board for the worst ever movie you have seen. Readers’ opinions were solicited and they seem to have got quite a good response, going by the dozens of pages of comments they have got. It appears to be a rather belated attempt on Rediff’s part to educate its plethora of Movie Critics, Reviewers & Editors – who often appear completely clueless about movies. I hope they learn some lessons about movies & the art of movie reviewing, as a result of this exercise. At least, they should be able to differentiate the dung from the dahlia or vice versa – a quality, as any discerning reader & movie buff would know, they lack severely.

Sample this. Rediff’s star Cine Critic happens to be one Raja Sen. Read his reviews of Sarkar and Paheli, and you will know what I meant in the above paragraph. Anyone, with a semblance of sense around him, would have done a far better job!

Like the Rediff readers, I too have a sudden urge to document the forgettable movies that I have watched in the past few years, which I won’t watch again, even for a cash reward of thousand bucks. (Might do so for two, but only if the survival of the civilized world depends upon it). Unlike the readers, I thought of utilizing my blog space, rather than cluttering up the message board. Considering the quality of bollywood movies made in the last few years, the task appears as tough as finding a football in a bathtub.

The following movies appear in no particular order, except for the first one, which will retain its lead position – even after another century of one million crappy movies.

Boom (2003) – The unofficial crown prince of forgettable flicks. Wonder what Kaizad Gustad was smoking when he went on to make this one? The tagline might read “The fashion world meets the underworld”, but in reality, it’s a path breaking initiative on how to make a total cropper with a big star cast. Variously taunted as “Amitabh’s biggest career mistake” and “Kaizad’s preamble before his entry to mental asylum” – this one epitomizes the degree of avoidability of a movie.

Yaadein (2001) – Famed director, promising actors (who lost their respective promising characteristics soon after the movie saw daylight), exotic locations – all these don’t necessarily constitute a winning formula. On watching the movie, the first reaction was incredulity on how a talented director could go ashtray in a short span of time; which soon gave way to suicidal tendencies of the third kind. Jackie Shroff features in the top two movies in my list. Coincidence or causation?

Hello Brother (1999) – If there is a course in the acting institutes, titled “what not to do in a comedy movie”, probably showing this movie to the students would suffice. This movie reaffirms my belief that comedy is not everyone’s cup of tea, definitely not the forte of Salman Khan and his loser brothers. Capital Punishment should be doled out to those who indulge in making a comic movie, without having the slightest talent for it.

Hum Saath Saath Hein (1999) – This movie was a learning experience. If the starting sequence of a movie shows a big joint family clustered together in the Pooja Ghar, singing Bhajans, walk out immediately. Or else, it might prove torturous for your sanity. And if you seriously like the kind of stuff this movie is made of, go watch any sitcom on Star Plus.

Saathiya (2002) – The great movie, which effectively (and thankfully so) grounded Vivek Obroi’s movie career, which seemed to have take off with his debut movie “Company”, which on hindsight appears to be a fluke of a success. After a few initial moments, the movie turned into a chronicle of the plights of a newly married couple. The tear-fest became so intense; it almost swept me out of the theatre in its wake.

Devdas (2002) – To put it mildly, never in the history of Indian Moviedom has such a huge investment (50 Crores) disappointed in such a big way. The movie, despite all its grandeur, appeared to have cast all the wrong actors in the right roles. Shahrukh, in the title role, appeared about as comfortable as a whale in the midst of Sahara Desert. If Sharat Chandra were alive today, he would have got the shock of his life witnessing Bhansali’s screen rendition of his masterpiece. I wonder how this movie did so well among the NRI audience!

Dhadkan (2000) – Another step in the learning process – never go to a bollywood movie for the first show on first day. The star cast featured the two top action heroes of the 90s and that’s what took me to the theatre. But alas! Those two spent their entire on-screen time competing with each other on who can shed the maximum amount of tears. I got so miffed that I decided to ‘highly recommend’ the movie to a group of my friends. After all, they too deserved their shares of the pie. And after the unsuspecting lot got pranked into the theatre, I had to remain in hiding for over a week, for fear of dear life.

Mela (2000) – The uninitiated among my friends simply suggested that the movie should have been named “Kela”, and forgot all about it. But I have patented the movie as the most potent weapon of torture for one’s adversary, to be used only when the maximum amount of sadistic pleasure is desired. I am still looking for that adversary. Anyone game?

Main Hoon Na (2004) – Yet another Shaharukh Khan blooper, in the form of an immense intellectual insult for those with a level head on their shoulders. Fifteen years doing choreography should not automatically qualify someone to become a director. Or else, we will end up having stupid movies with asinine stunt scenes, where a cycle rickshaw chases and outruns a SUV on a country road. And no, there aren’t any patriotically motivated terrorists in India, not yet at least.

1857 – The Rising (2005) – This one can’t simply be summarized in a paragraph. It deserves an entire post, for the dubious distinction of being the biggest highly-expected disappointment of the lot.

I am sure there are many more, who can make it to the exulted list. But hey, weekend is starting and for sure, there are more positive things in life.

Happenings at Home

2005-09-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

It has been ten long years, since I have been out of Orissa, except for brief visits, two or three times every year.The first four years were because of studies and the subsequent six for work. Yet, for all practical purposes, Orissa remains my home sweet home. The place which I adore and always wish to go back to and where I am going to be eventually.

Orissa never makes it big in the national news. The happenings in this quaint & peaceful state are often tucked in the middle pages of national newspapers and magazines, where they are likely to be overlooked. The news channels, with the possible exception of good old Doordarshan, completely ignore the state. After all, the news channels have their TRP and majority viewer-base to take care of - which for them takes precedence over authenticity and importance of the contents they broadcast. It is indeed disheartening when channels like Aaj Tak spend the entire prime time talking of a vagrant bull that wandered into Connaught Place, New Delhi; scaring the shit out of the denizens of the national capital, while they don't even make a passing mention of the signing of the biggest FDI deal in the history of India.

FDI & More:

Yeah, the biggest FDI deal in the history of India involved an agreement between Pohang Iron & Steel Company (POSCO) of South Korea and the government of Orissa. The deal amounts to Rs 52,000 crores (US $12 billion) and involves the setting up of a steel plant at the port town Paradeep. As per this article in rediff:

"Posco signed an MoU for setting up a steel plant at Paradip in Orissa with a total investment of $12 billion (Rs 52,000 crore). It is the biggest foreign direct investment in India. The project will be completed in two phases. Each phase will consist of two modules of 3 tonne per annum. The first module is expected to be completed by June 2010. Thereafter, 3 million tonne capacity will be added every two years and the plant will reach its full capacity of 12 million tonne by 2016."

The state boasts of a huge & high quality reserve of iron ore, apart from the availability of cheap and surplus electricity. As a result, both domestic & international steel makers are making a beeline for the state. Among them are Posco, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Essar and the Murugappa group. The fact that the government of Orissa has received 40 different proposals for steel industry in the last one year, is a testimony to the potential of the state.

Albeit a little late, things finally seem to look good for Orissa, which has long been one of the poorest states in the whole country. Way to go, indeed !!

A welcome relief for children:

Those of us, who studied in Goverment schools, especially in small towns might have gone through a particular ordeal in our school days. What happens when a VIP visits the school or the town housing the school? The children are asked to present themselves in neat uniforms and are paraded in front of the visiting dignitaries. If not paraded, at least they were made to stand in queues to welcome the visiting dignitary, who could be anyone from a District Inspector of Schools to a State Minister. What added to the woes of these children is the fact that VIPs are almost always fashionably late and the kids have to sweat it out in the gruelling summer, while waiting for the visitors. Teachers used to encourage and co-ordinate such activities, to please the dignitaries as well as to show off the kind of discipline & obedience they command among their pupils. May be the dignitaries also preferred to see well-dressed school children in front of them - rather than the ugly face of poverty, which was an eye-sore for them.

Well, not any more. At least not in Orissa. So declared the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The school children will be completely exempt from doing the VIP duties. The executive order has banned parading children in front of VIPs and Orissa was the first state in India to bring such a directive into existence.

Bravo, Mr Patnaik !! You might not be the typical media savvy politician or a suave political player, but you do have a decency, which is almost-extinct among other indian politicians. I am sure the mantle of Orissa is in very able hands, with Naveen Patnaik at the helm of state affairs.

I wish Indian mainstream media , which seems obsessed with negative news, had devoted some time & space for such heartening pieces of news.

The darker side:

Unfortunately, all the news about Orissa are not equally heartening. The story of Mamta Nayak, a dalit (scheduled cast) student, who was banned from cycling to her school in a village by the upper cast people, makes us wonder if we are indeed in the twenty first century. During my stay & visit to several small towns & villages in Orissa, I found that the cast system was pretty much prevalent. But it seldom took an ugly turn like this particular event. The Panchayat (village council), comprising of members of higher cast, had asked Mamta not to cycle in the premises of Narasimhpur village. Mamta had to travel 14km either way, every day to attend school and uses her bicycle for the commute. But she was asked to get off her bicycle when she neared the village, and walk along with it, while crossing the village.

These things are bound to happen, when a place remains under-developed and under-educated for a very long time. What is important here is the steps that we take to tackle such issues. In a typical situation, probably Mamta would have abided by the edict and would have embraced her misfortune with quiet tears. But, I am glad to see that Mamta has very bravely defied the village council's decision and has decided to resume cycling to her school. The local administration had come to her aide, after a NGO took up the issue, and have provided her an escort (a lady police officer) to accompany her to school and back. Of course, the government can't provide escorts to hundreds of Mamtas, who are being victim of cast discrimination. But surely the courage & determination of Mamta would go a long way in resolving the age old problem of cast disputes.

(This post is on the occassion of my long awaited trip to home, which starts tomorrow. Hope to come up with more such posts on my home state in future.)

Politically Correct Pizza

2005-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

During a recent visit to Pizza Corner (the Indian & very much Indianized Pizza Chain) at Chennai, came across a signboard that said the following:

"Our pizzas don't contain Beef or Pork. We only use Halal meet in our pizza. Our pepperoni is 100% chicken. " (duh ??)

Being politically correct is good, but what about making some good pizzas, which at least don't taste like a culinary experiment gone awry?

The Rising or The Downfall ??

2005-08-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

Watching "Mangal Pandey: The Rising" was a disappointing experience, to put it mildly. If allowed, my actual reaction would be to hold the producer by the scruff of his neck and demand my money back. Dont have any intention of writing a review (as I did for "Sarkar" & "Bunty Aur Babli") - simply because its just not worth the effort. However some ideas crossed my mind while I was watching the movie and immediately thereafter, I would like to put them forward.

A period movie need not and should not contain item numbers. Two ravishing babes in skimpy clothes, swinging provocatively to the tunes is not the way street performances happen in India. And surely it did not happen that way back in 1856.

In a historical and patriotic movie,, the patriotism & historical moments should take the centre stage - not two half baked love stories running parallel to each other. If the director has any talent, he can successfully direct a period movie, without having to resort to the masala movie formula. On the other hand if a director seriously belives that movies can't be made without a love story as the central angle, he should refrain from attempting period movies.

In a historic movie, characters, time & place are of the paramount importance. If you mess them up, the movie is screwed beyond repair. So it challenges the tolerance of serious movie goers when you show a small town (Barrackpore) in Bengal in 1856 and the sign board on a shop is written in Hindi in Devanagari script.

If someone gets shot in the chest on 29th April, he can't be healed up enough to attend the military court in person (and walk into it on his own feet) on 5th of May. Definitely not a century and half ago, when the medical facilities were still in a primitive stage.

Rani Mukherjee should rechristen herself as Roni (crying) Mukherjee. In the scenes where she is not actually crying, it seems as if she is going to. So big is her propensity for tears that she spent most of her on-screen time crying, even when in her previous movie, the character was called Babli (Bubbly). I wonder if she gives some kind of discount, when the movie-makers cast her in crying roles.

A movie set in 1850s need not have all the female characters showing off thier cleavages. At least while making period movies, the director should have restrained his urge to be an exhibitionist.

Mangal Pandey might have raised his voice against the British officers. But how feasible it sounds for him to have a good knowledge of the parliamentay democracy system in Britain, and preach Gordon about it?

Mangal Pandey, in my opinion was more of a "thought process" (what we call "ek soch"), than an actual hero of the freedom struggle. Let me explain. In real life, the man might have been a hero or an accident, it hardly matters. What matters is, whether through his sacrifice or otherwise, he did inspire the great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Mangal Pandey, as a person might not have achieved much. But when he became a thought, as the talk and inspiration of mutineers, he did show us that an armed struggle could be mounted against a marauding & occuppying foreign power.

I salute the great inspiring thought called "Mangal Pandey" and condemn the pathetic movie that could hardly be described as a tribute to the hero of India's first freedom struggle. The movie has its very few moments of glory. But as we know, we can't make a bouquet with some fresh and a lot of dried-up flowers !!

I am an Espresso (lover)

2005-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic

At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung

You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping

Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Engineers: Then & Now

2005-08-06T05:08:00.000-07:00

Today when I look back at my professional life and the student life preceeding that, time seems to be flying in a jiffy, putting even the fastest space shuttle to shame. Seven summers ago, I was a final year graduate student, just one year away from getting my degree in Engineering & eagerly waiting for the culmination of four years of professional studies - landing a good job. Those days of anxious waits for corporate interviews, eager anticipation of to-be-announced results and the parties that were thrown by friends who got selected - still linger fresh in my memory. One of the best memories is that of my own interview, of course the one where I got selected.

Seven years later - the table seems to have turned, quite literally. I was again off to some of the reputed Engineering Colleges of south india - this time not to attend, but to coduct interviews on behalf of my employer. A chance to interact with young, entusiastic would-be graduates filled me with anticipation. Four engineering colleges and many dozen interviews later, I am rather disappointed - at the type of engineers we are going to get. In the words of a colleague, who was with me in this whole exercise, the whole experience was "nothing to write home about".

The first thing that an Engineering Course (or for that matter, any professional course), teaches a person is the right attitude. The attitude to explore life - not be a mere bookish creature. In a college in Coimbatore, when asked "What do you do after classes?" - the answers were rather cliched - "one hour of prayer, three hours of studies, five hours of sleep and so on". To be completely honest, I did not get a different answer from the twelve candidates I interviewed over the day. Is that all there is to life in an Engineering College? I think not, at least things were not so bad in my engineering college days. Read on and you will come to know why I am disappointed.

Most of the would be engineers did not have a hobby or interest to talk about. Some of them were interested in reading, but they were ill at ease explaining why a particular author or book happens to be their favourite. One of them tried his best to convince me that reading India Today can be considered as a "reading hobby", his constant banter about it came to an end only when I interrupted him to ask the name of the editor, to which he did not have an answer. One person talked about "Formula 1" as being his area of interest. For a moment I was thrilled, at the chance of talking to a person who shared my interest in something. Just to judge the depth of his interest I asked him what he thought of the fiasco at Indianapolis.The interview was only a week after the most forgetable event in the history of F1 took place. And the reply? "Sir, I just watch it, but don't follow it that closely."

There was this guy with interest in Automobiles. The question answer session with him went like this:

Me - "So, why do you like Automobiles?"

Candidate - "Well, I am an automobile engineering student, thats why."

Me - "Good, so which is ur favourite car?"

C - "Mercedes, Sir"

Me - "Which model?"

C - (After furiously scratching head & chin) - "Hmmmmmmmm, Errrrrr.. Mercedes Sir"

Me - "Yeah, I got that. But any particular mercedes model, that you like most?"

C - "No model sir.. Mercedes in general, Sir .."

Then came a Mechanical Engineering graduate. A guy with a rather arrogant attitude. Not the type of arrogance that comes from a thorough understanding of a topic, but the kind of arrogance which is born off ignorance. Lets call him X.

Me (after the initial pleasantries) - "So X, why did you select Mechanical Engineering?"

X (after 5 minutes of waxing eloquence about Mechanical Engineering) - "Sir, may I give two reasons why Mech is the best?"

Me (getting prematurely optimist, without knowing what was forthcoming) - "Sure."

X (confident as hell) - "Sir, I am sure u have heard of Vinod Khosla, the guy who started Oracle. He was a mechanical engineer by profession.."

Me (Trying desperately to hide my disappointment through gritted teeth) - "I always thought Mr Khosla was a co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Anyway, whats your next point?"

X (with a knowing smile) - "You know Tata Consultancy Service has got a contract from Ferrari.. You know how they got it? They recruited a lot many mechanical engineers and showed the list to Ferrari. Ferrari became happy and granted them the contract".

I was just sort of pulling my hair out in frustration. My co-panelist, sensing that the candidate was probably a bluff master, and not exactly the kind of material we were looking for, informed him that the interview was over. The saga of disappointment did not get over there. There was someone (another self proclaimed voracious reader) who thought Sidney Sheldon was the best author in the world, and deserved at least the Booker prize!

When it came to talking about their favourite technical subjects, things only got worse. A person with "Engines" as his topic of interest, could not provide an example of an External Combustion Engine". Someone with "Data Structures" as the core topic of interest has never heard of a Doubly Linked List. Someone who just loved "Power Electronics" had no idea what a Thyristor is. So on and so forth.

The crux of the situation came in the next round of interviews, that succeeded the technical round. The candidates who did moderately well in the first round, had to face two of our HR Managers. My HR manager made it a point of asking everyone one question. The question was pretty simple.

"Who is the vice-president of India ?"

To his utter disappointment, not a single person could answer it. Not only that, the question was asked for the first time at 10 am and for the last time at 6pm. Still nobody could answer it. What surprised us more is the fact that these guys apparently never discussed with their friends what transpired inside the interview room. What happened to the so-called camaraderie among engineering students? Finally, when we did announce the result, there were only the selected candidates present to hear the result and accept the offer letters. No large group of friends, no hooting, no hip-hip-hurrahs, no nothing.

Things were very different, and I must say, way better seven years ago. My batchmates, barring the few toppers, were never exceptional at studies. (Toppers are a different lot and I am not discussing them here. I am talking about the common lot of engineering students.) However, when someone asked them about their hobbies/interests, they had the ability to take the interviewer for a ride. I remember one incident involving a friend, whose interview was mostly an hour-long discussion about which is the better book between "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead". We were never technically so good, but if we had a favourite subject, we made sure we had at least average understanding of it. I can't think of anyone in my whole batch, who would have had "Refrigeration" as his core competency and yet, not know what a coolant did !! And the camaraderie? Well, if an interviewer asked a question (technical or otherwise), he better not repeat it during the course of the day. Because if he did, he would find the next candidate (who had had a thourough discussion with the previous one) rather well prepared for the answer. And the scenes after a company announced the list of candidates? Well, there will be serious celebrations, ass-kicking (those who have been through it, will know what I mean) and parties after each such selection. When the results were announced, assuming ten candidates appeared in the interview, at least another fifty will be accompanying them to hear the result. Yes, thats what my engineering life was all about - cultivating great friends and a good attitude.

I can't blame the young graduates for this debacle. The fault lies with the system. Once upon a time, only those who came through the competition of entrance tests, did get into engineering colleges. Only the brightest could go for the best technical education the country had to offer. But now, we have various management & payment seats (more prevalent in South India, than elsewhere), where a student gets into an engineering college, without even having to appear for an entrance examination and with very poor grades at the intermediate level. As a result, those without the necessary caliber get into professional courses. If someone does not have the basics right, then the best of faculty and infrastructure can do little to hone his/her skills. To make things worse, engineering colleges are being operated only for profit, sometimes by reputed commercial establishments & even by religious trusts, without the necessary infrastructure in place. Anyone, who can cough up a few lakh rupees (often masked as a donation), can get into such a college. Good students and good educational facility, can together create a good talent pool in the country. On the other hand, what will be the outcome from such institutions?

I am not against the privatization of education. But surely the time has come to curb the unscruplous mushrooming of such institutions and restrict the availability of technical education only to the deserving.

The Story of a Change

2005-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

As they say, changes are a way of life. For a new beginning, we need to end or at least change something, that has been there for so long. Change, of course, is difficult, the amount of difficulty varying with the degree of attachment.

I could sense the impending change for quite sometime now. Things just seemed fine on the surface, with life taking its course. A casual onlooker might not have been able to notice that something was amiss. But it was the one 'something' that is always so vital. Beneath the veneer, there was definitely something wrong. Things were not so smooth or satisfying, as they might appear to the eyes of the uninitiated. Things desperately needed change. Old relatiionships, which did not bring the same pleasures anymore, needed to be overwritten with newer ones. Alas, justification of a change did not make it any easier to act. When the time came to take the final leap, there was a lot of trepidation along with the usual sense of anticipation.

Despite something that was amiss, the old relationship was fine, actually. Who knows what woes the newer version will bring? May be things will worsen after making the changes? With a flurry of such thoughts sweeping my mind, I finally took the leap, this weekend. The change & the replacement did make me feel awkward for a while. But two days hence, I feel the decision for change was a good one. The new has not only overwritten the old, it also has given me the "something" that was missing in the old.

Yeah, deciding to go for a face-over for my motorbike was indeed a good idea. The mean machine, my two year old Pulsar 180 now has sportier looks, with cool three-leaf Mag Wheels replacing the conventional radial spokes & chrome rims. The Mag Wheels come with a matted finish and thin chrome lining near the border. And thats not all, the rear rubber (MRF Zapper 100/90-18) has been replaced with a sturdy looking Dunlop Racer 120/80-18. The road grip has improved way beyond I could have thought and now I dont get scared to take sharper turns at higher speeds. Only after bringing in the change, I understood the importance of that 'something', which was missing earlier.

On Saturday's get together, when my Pulsar 180 was the cynosure of all my friends' eyes, I realized the change is really worth all the trouble and expenses. For me, this is the first step towards taking motor biking to the next level. Due thanks to our North Madras Biker, Shankar for all his help and expert guidance.

Monumental Confusion

2005-07-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

The crown jewel of India's tourist attractions & world heritage monument Taj Mahal is now a disputed property. According to this article in The Telegraph ;

The Taj Mahal was today declared Sunni Wakf property on the ground that it is the grave of a woman (Mumtaz Mahal) whose emperor husband (Shah Jahan) was a Sunni.

The irony is, Wakf board was asked by the Allahabad High Court to decide the ownership of the Taj and after due deliberations over the matter, proclaimed themselves to be the rightful owners of the monument. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI), who are the custodian of the Taj since 1920 and needless to mention, the sole beneficiary of the profit coming out of it; are unwilling to let go of it. To make things more complicated, in a rather hilarious way, a person claiming to be the direct descendent of Shah Jahan, has jumped into the fray to claim the ownership (and guess who has picked up the story? Of course, the doyen of gossip news stories, aka the Times Of India).

And you thought funny legal battles didn't happen in India ?

Well, why just three contestants for the ownership? Considering the magnitude and grandeur of The Taj, should not the legal battle for it be a little more spiced up with some additional contestants staking their claims? Here are my suggestions (serious pun intended).

Since the creator of Taj Mahal was the descendent of grand parents, one of whom had relinquished Islam (Emperor Akbar) and the other was a devout Hindu (Jodha Bai) - may be the Vishwa Hindu Parishad can make a claim for it? Are you listening, Mr Singhal?

Shah Jahan's great great grand father, Babur was born in a place which is in the modern day Uzbekistan. May be the Uzbek Government can also be a contender for ownership?

The chief calligrapher, during the construction of the Taj, was an Iranian. So may be Khomeini is also a prospective owner?

Enough of this crap !! Just let Taj Mahal be what it is and leave it in peace.

Indian Media & The Art of Grave Digging

2005-07-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

"Anything written on paper can affect history, not life. Life is a different history."

Thus spake Don Corleone, to his youngest son and heir-apparent Michael, towards the end of the book The Sicilian, written by Mario Puzo, arguably the father of organised crime stories. The Sicilian covers the short period of time when Michael Corleone was hiding out in Sicily. The Godfather covers the reason why he was in exile, while The Sicilian is the story of his years in hiding. However, the chief protagonist of the novel is a Sicilian rebel named as Turi Gulliano, who posseses a sort of diary, referred to as 'The Testament'. As per the novel, The Testament is a who's who of Sicilian underworld, the possession of which is likely to give an edge to Corleone Family, over their rivals. The Sicilian is the story of Guilliano's crusades against tyranny, but the author also makes a passing mention of Michael's attempts to get The Testament. However, the story takes a tragic bend and in the turn of events Michael Corleone returns to USA empty handed. The above statement was his father's opinion on the document, when Michael's expresses regret over his inability to obtain Guilliano's Testament.

The whole point of the above paragraph is, how much does history really affect life? Should the human life, really revolve around the happenings in the past? The obvious answer would be a big NO. Apart from inspirational & learning purpose (for eg: not repeating the mistakes commited in the past), history should be allowed to rest in peace. If we pick random threads of history, find out past mistakes and allow them to interfere with the present life, the whole exercise would turn out to be as fruitful as digging ancient graves. And the perpetrators of such act would probably be just dinasours. Two of the events, that has recently been in the news, tell me that the Indian Media (both print & television) is headed the same way.

The first and foremost would be the Advani-Jinnah-Sangh Parivar controversy. A political leader (LK Advani) travels to a neighbouring country(Pakistan) and in his attempt to improve the bilateral relationship between the countries (India & Pakistan - who have already fought four wars in the last half-century), makes a statement praising the founder of the other country (MA Jinnah). The point here is not whether Jinnah was an atheist or secularist or whatever, the actual point is does it really matter? Jinnah could be devout or atheist, but does this piece of fact, in anyway change the life of an ordinary Indian or a Pakistani, in the current time? Then why raise a hue & cry over the whole issue? The Sangh Parivar thrives on its ideologies (?) and makes sure that they take all such issues to the masses. One can understand when they made it a big issue. But the so called Fourth Estate? What made them devote rims of news print and hours of TV prime time to this issue? One could see scores of 'experts' appearing in televisions and commenting on the controversy, the life of Jinnah & the turn of events during the partition. But what came out of the whole exercise, apart from the colossal wastage of resource & time? Why can't the past-obsessed media let the whole matter rest, accepting the whole episode as a simple good-will gesture?

The second issue is the unveiling of Nixon-Kissinger papers and the caustic remarks contained in those papers towards India and Indira Gandhi, during the period of the Bangladesh War. The papers, which were declassified recently as per US regulations, have already brewed a storm. All the leading newspapers have carried stories on this, followed by discussions & experts opinion. (Far too many experts are there in the Indian Media - Dont you agree?). There have been articles in magazines like The Outlook and India Today. Well, how does it matter what Nixon remarked about India three decades ago? Those who know their history, are well aware that Nixon never had any high opinions about India & Indira. Its also a known fact that the secession of Bangladesh was a master stroke & only those who did not understand South-East Asia or acted out of selfish interest, could have opposed such a move. Earlier Kissinger has apologised for the remarks attributed to him. Then, where is the controversy in here? This piece of news probably deserved half a coloumn in the middle pages in newspapers, but what it got was headlines and whole pages written for it. And again, the whole effort did not yield anything fruitfull at all. The media should understand that in the light of the improving relationship between India & USA and corporate America's recognition of India as an emerging economic superpower, what an ex-president remarked about an ex-prime minister a long time ago, does not carry any relevance anymore.

There are numerous other examples, where precious time is wasted by delving into the past. Political parties may resort to it for the purpose of cheap popularity, but it is sad to see the media of a progressive nation take the same course. Lets hope that someday, life, in its present and glorious form, would take precedence over history. Till then, we have no option but to tolerate the grave-digging operations of Indian Media.

Drunken Rhyme !

2005-07-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

My close friend NMM has two great passions; he is an ardent worshipper of Bacchus as well as an avid star-gazer. I can certify to the first one in the capacity of a first hand witness. As per the second, I am not so sure, but the testimony to his star-gazing habit is the fact that he owns a huge telescope. I often wonder what my friend does, when he combines both his passions. Perhaps he sings this rhyme !

(The backdrop could be some lonely stretch of beach on the East Coast Road, south of Chennai, very late in the night, NMM sits hunched over his telescope, after a marathon drinking session in the evening.)

Starkle, starkle, little twink,
Who the hell you are I think.
I'm not under what they call
The alcofluence of incohol.

I'm not drunk as thinkle peep,
I'm just a little slort of sheep.
Tee martoonis make a guy
Fool so feelish, don't know why.

Rally don't know who's me yet
The drunker I stay the longer I get
So just one more to full my cup,
I've all day sober to Sunday up!

PS - Dude, I wish your better half never sees this post of mine. And of course, due apologies in advance, in case she does.

The Baap of all movies: Sarkar

2005-07-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

Humbled, Dumb-founded, Touched & Moved - were among my first reactions on seeing Ram Gopal Verma's Sarkar. To summarise the experience, it was a powerhouse of a movie ! Indeed, a movie that could keep up the high expectation, that it generated prior to its release. After a long time (probably the last one was 'Black'), a kind of movie that could be termed as cine-goers' delight, in the true sense of the word.

Subhash Nagre (Amitabh Bachchan) is the Sarkar - a figure adored & revered by masses and feared by wrong-doers. An Indianized Godfather, except that politics (and not crime) is Nagre's way. In his attempt to do good for people, he does not mind stepping over the legal boundary, nor does he confine himself to the existing rules, regulations & systems. Sarkar is the story of Nagre's family - elder son Vishnu (KK Menon), younger son Shankar (Abhsihek Bachchan), wife (Supriya Pathak in a nice come-back role), niece Avanti (Tanisha), Vishnu's wife Amrita (Rukhsar) and Shankar's lady love Pooja (Katrina Kaif). Apart from that there are the usual suspects of The Factory, great actors who were discovered by RGV during the course of his many movies, in small but significant and well designed roles of gangsters, politicians & a god-man.

Amitabh's role seems to have been carved out for him and noone else in Indian Movie Industry could have done justice to that role. The brooding eyes, the rudraksh mala in hand, the deep baritone that appears concerned one moment & commanding the next, the occassional moments which bring back flashes of the angry young man of yester years - together constitute a larger than life, but realistic image. The scene of Amitabh sipping tea from a saucer (in rustic style) with only his eyes visible above the saucer, exuding pure menace towards his opponent could probably chill a tigers blood. I cant help imagining that, if the birtplaces were swapped, may be Amitabh would have made a better Godfather than Marlon Brando. The screen presence of RGV's Nagre is in no way less spine-chilling & awe-inspiring, as compared to Coppola's Vito Corleone.

The real find of the movie seems to be Abhishek Bachchan, in his career best performance till date. He shows a resilience, which is so rare among his peers. First as the US returned uninvolved son and then as the successor to the Sarkar - he effectively proves his acting skills. Abhishek seems to have finally shed the shell of being Bib B's son and has emerged as a class actor. Watch out for the Abhishek Bachchan moments throughout the movie - especially in the later half when he takes control of the family matters. The conviction of someone, who has chosen the righteous path (albeit not always within legal limits), the trust of a son in his father & the grit to defend his family at all costs - all these emotions have been portrayed in an appealing & authentic manner. Bachchan junior has come a long way from forgetable movies like Shararat & Dhai Akshar Prem Ke - and his emergence essentially proves two things: -

The reason why we hear more & more of Abhishek (I am sure this trend will continue), as compared to his contemporaries like Vivek Obroi & Hrithik Roshan.

The fact that there will always be a Bachchan at the helm of Indian Movies.

KK Menon is intense in his role of the arrogant, short-tempered and spoilt brat in the family. He seems to have the right persona for such types of roles (remember the pshychotic jailor in the new Deewar?) and deserves compliments for choosing the right roles and doing full justice to them. Supriya Pathak makes a good comeback as the subdued & emotional life partner of Amitabh. The other ladies are merely there to fill up the space; but who cares anyway, when the two Bachchans are on the screen most of time? The significant other characters - an ambitious narcotics dealer, a south indian Don who was the protege of the Sarkar, a couple of power-hungry politician who want to get rid of Sarkar to increase their power, a Chandraswamy style shrewd & calculative Godman, a corrupt police commissioner, the PA & henchman of the Sarkar - are well placed and the corresponding actors are judiciously selected by the director. The only disappointment was Anupam Kher in a cameo role of an honest politician - it was not clear why he was talking with a bowed head & down-cast eyes, while talking of his crusade against gangsters.

The cinematography is true RGV style - arguably the best in its class. The movie does not have any songs, but the background music is haunting & enchanting. Especially the chants of "Govinda Govinda" and "Sham Daan Dand Ved" at crucial moments - adds to the effects. The movie keeps viewers so firmly glued to their seats that they hardly seem to miss the songs.

All said and done, Sarkar is a must watch for movie lovers. At the end of the year, the Filmfare awards might still be bagged by the manipulative trio of Shahrukh-Chopra-Johar. Even the media might wax eloquence about their run of the mill movies. Some section of media might try to degrade the great efforts & the real good movies (like this ass of a reviewer who has reviewed Sarkar in Rediff) - in support of the trio. But in the hearts & minds of the serious movie-goers, there will be stiff competition between Subhash Nagre of 'Sarkar' & Devraj Sahai of 'Black' - for the best on-screen performance of the year. After watching Sarkar, it would be an insult (and a tasteless experience for sure) to go and watch the other pathetic flicks that are slated for release.

The next time I head to a theatre, it would probably be to watch the Big B play Vidyadhar Ramakrishna Pattvardhan in Mahesh Manjrekar's Virrudh.

Sarkar @ Tonite

2005-07-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

The most awaited movie of the season is finally here. And I am going to watch it tonite. Thanks again to my roomie 'A', who bunked his office to get the tickets, when advance booking opened. Some advantage of having a hard-core movie buff as a roomie. Now I hear that all the weekend shows are booked !!

I am sure this is going to be a hell of movie. Starring my favourite actor (and according to me, the best actor ever !) Big B and directed by one of my favourite directors, Ram Gopal Varma. Man, its like John Galt meeting Howard Roark - at least in a cinematic way.

In an interview with the Hindu, RGV makes the following points with respect to Amitabh.

"Like most moviegoers I grew up watching the senior Bachchan doing amazing things on screen. I took my time to conceive a role that would showcase Amitabh Bachchan the way I wanted to see him. Were it not for Mr Bachchan I wouldn't have made 'Sarkar'."

"I think he's the only actor in Indian cinema who can hold the camera without saying a word."

"Mr Bachchan has taken 'Sarkar' much beyond where I could ever take it."

The following statement from RGV (published on the official website of Sarkar) comes as the icing on the cake.

"Finally I would state that 'Satya' and 'Company' were just preparatory blue prints for SARKAR."

Wow !! 'Satya' & 'Company' were mere blue-prints for 'Sarkar' ! Not withstanding the fact that today's movie-goer goes to cinema without much expectations (considering the kind of movies that have been releasing lately !), tonite when I go to watch Sarkar, I will be going in with a lot of expectations.

Musings of a Movie Buff

2005-06-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

(The following post was written as an email to me by my roomie A, who happens to be a fellow movie buff. His sentences rightly reflect the plight of Indian Cine Goers, who watch movie after movie, in a desperate attempt to stumble upon at least one good movie. Needless to say, more often than not, they are disappointed.)

Erosion in Talent

The biggest star of the millenium Amitabh Bachchan, will be seen in a role cut out for himself in Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar'. Then there is Amir Khan's "Mangal Pandey". After that, it looks like the industry will have releases that will test the patience of the indian moviegoer.

For an industry that churns out 300 odd movies a year, it will be imperative to maintain that number, come what may. There are enough good stars and there are budding stars.We can expect the number count being maintained. But not quite sure of the quality of movies. As such the movie industry has s become quite fragmented.There is the RGV clan of movies which keep experimenting with untouched themes. There is the (Karan)Johar - (Yash/Aditya)Chopra clan who have money to pump in and make big budgeted chocolatee movies, with a rich & larger than life image, and the Shahrukh Khan factor being common in all of them. There are others: Madhur Bhandarkar who dares, Sanjay Gupta who is india's Quentin Tarantino (albeit self-proclaimed).

The industry which was purely talent based, has now turned out to be family based. Thus no matter whether a star son/daughter can act or not , he/she is in the business of movies. Ridiculous! To top it up, like every job needs experience, such stars continue to gain experience at the cost of the indian audience, delivering timely flops friday to friday. Punctuality redefined!!

Let there be no bias towards any actor, but there are others in the industry who with their NSD backgrounds, have struggled to make it to movies and this very fact is a testimonial to their passion for acting . It is surprising and quite sad that such actors are not given enough opportunity to act and in the process, we lose out on some wonderful performances. To name a few: Manoj Bajpai, Irfan Khan, KK Menon, Rajpal Yadav of the current time & Om Puri, Ashis Vidyarthi, who have been there for a long time now. In short sweet tone I believe (and I am sure many movie-lovers will agree) that, its a better feeling to watch Manoj bajpai/Irfan Khan/Rajpal Yadav; than watching some of the star sons exhibiting their pathetic attempts at acting. (With due respect to Vivek Oberoi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapur, Jimmy Shergill, Zayed Khan, Fardeen Khan, Imran Hashmi, Asmit Patel etc)

Vivek Oberoi, I feel pity for. His affair with Aishwarya gained him the Coke ad. He copied Elvis Presley and did it so bad that it is being cleaned up by Rajpal Yadav with the same look. Fardeen Khan, didn't seem to have learnt anything from the two powerful actors AB and Om Puri while in "Dev". Sanjay Dutt, Mahesh Manjrekar duo looked promising once upon a time, but now, I think they have other plans in mind (making movies like 'Musafir' which cast a doubt about the mental health of the director). Hope to see Mahesh Manjrekar's revival in Viruddh (if it is saved it will be for AB). The RGV factory identifies talent and here the movie is bigger than the star, which makes the intense driver in "Company", Rajpal Yadav to get a full fledged role in a forth coming movie. Take this: Saif Ali Khan entered the industry in 1992 with "AashiQ Awaara" and in 2001 "Dil Chahta Hai" he did make an impact, thanks to the hair stylist and the hair gel company. Then on, he is doing very well. He was good in Parineeta,undoubtedly. There are similar stories of others and there are others that are in the making.

I seriously have no movie to wait for, except "Sarkar" and the Rajpal Yadav movie. What movies are you waiting for???

SRK & On-Screen smoking

2005-06-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hmmm.. After all the brouhaha surrounding the Govt's decision to ban smoking scenes in the movies (my previous post on the topic here), the chocolate boy (still a boy?, sic) of Indian Cinema has finally come out with his views. In this rediff article, the great SRK has come out in favour of the Govt imposed ban on on-screen smoking.

Can he really be serious? Is it that after getting the Padmashree he feels compelled to support every decision (however stupid !!) the Government makes? I dont know, but lets take a look at the silly remarks in the aforementioned article.

"I haven't played a character for whom smoking is essential as part of the characterisation. Even in Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, where I hold a cigarette in my hand all the time, I never light it. I borrowed this trait from the South Indian original of the film, where the hero always puts a cigarette in his mouth when he is agitated. I thought it was a masterstroke."

Au contraire, Monsieur Khan. Please have a look at the following in contradiction to what you have said.

You might not have played a role where smoking is essential. Thats because you always play the role of a goodie goodie guy (aptly named Raj or Rahul) romancing the girl of his dreams, at the same time exhibiting (most of the time over-exhibiting) strong family values. Even in your so called 'different movies', you have not been able to come out of that mould.

Also, you have a very long way to go before you can play all kinds of roles. And in some of those, smoking is essential to the potrayal of the character. Since you can never play those roles, you possibly cant imagine why smoking would be essential for them.

Hum Tumhare Hein Sanam was a master-stroke? Give me a break, man!! It was one of the most pathetic & forgetable movies ever made. I wonder if anyone even remembers whether the chief protagonist held a cigarette or not.

SRK, goes out to make another miserable observation in the article.

"It might be tough to depict characters from the underworld without cigarettes. But otherwise, what's so essential about smoking on screen? I don't think any film needs to be designed around a character who smokes."

Tough? You must be joking, dude !! I think 'impossible' would be more appropriate. Could you possibly imagine the characters in Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs or even Guns of Navrone without a cigarette? You obviously dont have the talent for such roles, but surely you can use a bit of common sense?

The crux of bull-shitting comes in the last part of his statement.

"Actually, the more liberal a society becomes, the more stringent the laws are bound to be. In the US, you can buy a gun off the shelf, and then someone starts shooting down kids in a school. "

So now smoking on-screen is compared to selling of guns & ammunitions? Wow, Mr Khan. Pure genius indeed. I would not waste my time commenting on this silly statement. But I cant help wonder, how come a guy like this becomes the heart-throb (and occassionally an icon) for the Indian masses?

Friedman & Flat World

2005-06-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

Thomas L Friedman's latest book "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century" has hit the stands in the bookstores around the world. Amazon.com has published a lengthy interview with the writer-columnist. In the interview Friedman speaks about his impression of a world, which is now flattened with level playing fields for the erstwhile thirld world countries (ie India & China). He also mentions how politicians in Washinton D.C remain ignorant of the changes that is sweeping the world. Friedman also talks about the following:

~ After the (now famous) Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, in this book, Friendman introduces a new theory called The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention. This has to do with the fact that countries involved in the supply chain of Dell Computers are unlikely to go to war with each other.

~ The Sputnik Moment for the United States, ie a time of crisis in engineering & science training.

~ The concept of Geo-Greenism, which talks of energy independence, by way of rediscovering science & technology.

Good going, Mr Friedman. Thanks for making everyone see the whole business of globalisation in an entirely new light.

Yucky Art !!

2005-06-21T02:31:00.000-07:00

Someone might think this to be a form of art, but I find it totally disgusting. Pity the artist & pity the people interested in such art !!

Midnight Blogging

2005-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

The clock is ticking mercilessly towards the deadline. The empty office floor is getting scarier by the moment. The sounds & noises of a typical workplace are fast dwindling. And yet, here I am. Perched infront of the computer on a friday night, waiting for my ultimate moment of glory.

No, my moment of glory is not an important discovery thats going to change the fate of mankind for better. Its merely the output of an inconsequential computer program, which if completed by tomorrow, is going to appease my manager in Toronto. Yeah, the monkey-ish manager of mine (somehow a monkey always comes to my mind when I think of him; may be Darwin had a point after all) had made a big goof up in giving a commitment to the customer. And as a consequence, here I am, slogging away my butt to honour the commitment made by a monkey. So what if my work will not change the fate of man-kind? It will at least save a monkey's ass.

I hate these lonely midnights in office. They bring in a realization, how insignificant we human beings are, in front great entities like management & deadline. Will the IT industry ever mend its way to be more human? Nothing sort of a full fledged French Revolution (complete with Guillotines - you know for whom) is going to change things. I wonder what would happen if me & the monkey manager swap places? Would he be willing to work till the wee hours of morning, in order to save my ass? Willing or otherwise, I am sure he is simply not capable of it.

Reminds me of a line by Scott Adams, the prolific columnist who has understood modern day work-culture better than anyone else.

In any give company, the biggest fools are systematically identified and promoted to the management, where they can cause the least amount of damage to the organisation.

How true indeed? If the monkey was sitting here tonite in place of me, may be the customer would have sued us tomorrow. Anyway, my program is showing signs of working. Yeah, I can read its pulse - considering the fact that I am working on it for the past half-day and working with programs in general for close to half a dozen years. Barring an unforeseen issue (coincidently, almost all issues in this industry fall under this category), I will be able to wrap up this in another half hour and head home for a much awaited and much deserved (at least I think so !) late night drink. May be life is not so bad after all.

SDLC Revisited

2005-06-14T02:49:00.000-07:00

For the uninhibited, SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. It comprises of all the processes involved, in the making of a Software Product or Solution - starting from getting the requirements from the end user to building & installing the finished product. But the sheer logistics of the whole process & involvement of many individuals (including the dubious clan known as Managers) often leaves room for confusion. The following picture says it all.

SDLC
(Click on the image for larger view)

Romantic Rhymes

2005-06-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would be writing a post with a heading like this one, until I saw this email forward.

*******
A local newspaper ran a competition asking for a rhyme with the most romantic first line, but the least romantic second line. Here are some of the entries they received.

I thought that I could love no other;
Until, that is, I met your brother.

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead,
The sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.

Of loving beauty, you float with grace.
If only you could hide your face

Kind, intelligent, loving and hot;
These are everything you are not.

I want to feel your sweet embrace,
But don't take that paper bag off of your face

I love your smile, your face, and your eyes,
Damn, I'm good at telling lies!

My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife,
Marrying you screwed up my life.

I see your face when I am dreaming.
That's why I always wake up screaming.

My love, you take my breath away.
What have you stepped on to smell this way !

My feelings for you no words can tell,
Except for maybe "go to hell".

What inspired this amorous rhyme?
Two parts vodka, one part lime.

******

Some poetic justice for the hen-pecked community !!

One Liners - Part One

2005-06-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Received some one liners as an email forward. Some of them are really hillarious.

-- Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

-- Marriage is the only war where you get to sleep with the enemy.

-- Give me the benefit of your convictions if you have any, but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.

-- A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.

-- Gravity is a myth, earth sucks !

-- To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal ideas from many is research.

-- Reality is an illusion caused by severe alcohol deficiency.

-- Abstract art? A product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.

-- The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

-- A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.

More to follow later.

Art of the Matter - "Evam Indrajit"

2005-06-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Back to the office after a relaxing & refreshing weekend. Relaxing because I got to hang around (and re-live some moments of my student life) with a close friend who had come over from Bangalore. Watched a less-than-average movie called 'D' from the Ram Gopal Verma stables. The movie was a disappointment, because although advertised as a prequel to the much acclaimed Company, this movie actually lacked character-sketch, story-line, screenplay, direction and almost everything else that makes up for a movie-goer's delight. Did a lot of running around the city in the scorching heat. Still I call the weekend refreshing because of one reason; a reason that can be summarised in just two words.

"Evam Indrajit" (The English translation - "And Indrajit")

That is the name of the play, being staged by the theatre group Evam in Chennai currently. I got to watch the first show on sunday. It actually felt like a whiff of freshness, as compared to all the other stale entertainment options available in the city. The play itself has a very long history. The original Bengali play (written by Badal Sircar) was staged in Calcutta in the mid sixties. Critically acclaimed as a milestone in Modern Indian Drama, this play was later translated by Girish Karnad into English. The current version of the play has been re-designed, keeping the cotemporary society in mind. Thats why, instead of Sircar's Dhoti-clad middle class Bengali Babus, you will see the laptop & cell-phone carrying corporate workers in the play.

The play starts with the sutradhar (a character referred to as "The Poet") making an appearance on stage and introducing the audience to a group of four friends. Amal, Vimal, Kamal and (evam - the sanskrit word for and) Indrajit. The Poet is trying a compose a play based on the lives of these four friends. The four youngsters are in college when the narration begins. Then the story moves through their lives as they leave the sanctuary of their college and move on to the real world. The former three, without the ability or desire to question anything, accept life as it comes. They eventually get lost in the mediocracy of the middle class - marriage, children, good jobs; but devoid of any pupose in their lives. Indrajit, on the other hand, is different from the lot. He has the ability to think and does not give in to the rules set by the society, just because everyone else does it.

The execution of the play has been superb, the direction great and performance of the young actors is memorable. Especially the three main characters; the chief protagonist Indrajit, the poet and Indrajit's lady-love Manasi; scinillate in their respective roles. The play has an occassional comic scene here & there - which invariably are satires on our current living style. The stage design was simple & realistic; without using too many props. They simply use a slide projector and a small screen as the back-drop to portray the background. Other than that there is not much hanky panky, not much music - but still the audience stayed riveted to the seats.

The play does not have a conventional or continuous story. It does not have the typical ending (be it the lived-happily-ever-after or the tears-tragedy-separation type). The play ends with a simple message: "Keep walking - in search of excellence among mediocracy & in search of light among darkness". Here is a play that makes the audience think. Whether to be a part of the crowd or voice your own thinking? Whether to blindly accept the life that goes on and on in a circle or try to break out of the loop? The message of the play is even more appropriate for the current society - where everyone is running a mad rat-race, without bothering to think why he/she is doing it.

Watching "Evam Indrajit" made me wonder that the play is almost the story of my own life - staged in three acts.

No Smoking, Please !!

2005-06-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Did you like the way the character of Mallik Bhai lights up cigarette after cigarette, in the movie Company? Did you appreciate Rituporno Ghosh's genius, when the chieft protagonist of Raincoat, keeps smoking nervously & restlessly, while trying to lie to his old-flame? Did u just adore when Amitabh delivered those dialogue in Don, with a cigarette in his left hand?

Well, these are going to be things of the past now. Not only that, As part of a new regulation by Indian Govt, the following rules will come into effect starting August 1 2005.

Actors will not be shown smoking on the screen
Showing of cigarette packs, hoardings with cigarette advertisement, any item with a cigarette brand name cant be shown in a movie
Films that have already been shot and include scenes of smoking, will need to run a scroll on the bottom of the screen, warning about the hazards of smoking
Foreign Films/Old movies shown on television, will have to blur the screen each time an actor lights up a cigarette. The horizontal warning scroll will accompany the blurring.

So now, when you watch Broken Arrow again & John Travolta makes his dashing entry, you will only see a blur. Hmmm... The reason? Film Actors have a lasting impression on the mind of minors and young adults. So when they see their screen idols lighting up on screen, they tend to follow suit.

Bullshit, I would say. This could have been true in 60s and 70s when cigarettes were not so common. One did not see so many people smoking. So anactor, seen with a cigarette in his hand, could have left a negative impact on the mind of a young one. But consider the situation now. A lot of people smoke these days. Before watching his first movie, a minor is very likely to witness a neighbour, a family member, a teacher or a friend smoking. Then how come banning smoking scenes in a movie is going to help the issue?

I dont have any intention of glorifying cigarettes or smokers. Neverthless, I have to admit that I dont know any smoker (including yours truly) who has picked up his habit, after watching a movie. On the other hand, there are several other negative impacts that movies leave behind. When they show the actors wearing fashionable clothes & using trendy accessories, young teenagers often make demands to their parents for the same. This probably creates a bigger dent in the pockets of middle class parents. There are more instances of teenagers being affected (with a direct impact on their parents' purses) by the unnecessary display of fashion accessories, than teenagers resorting to smoking as a result of watching a movie.

I believe the Govt is merely wasting its time enforcing a totally unnecessary regulation. Some think-tank in the South Block has probably put his brain into an over-drive to come out with such a ridiculous idea. Whats the idea of banning the the scenes of cigarettes/smoking, when nudity, murder, rape etc are shown widely & uncensored, in movies & television?

Finally, a quote from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, that always comes to my mind at the mention of smoking.

"I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression."

Do hell with the absurd ideas of the Govt, let me step out now for a much-awaited smoke, with a quiet "thank you" to my stars for smoking is still allowed in the parking lot of my office.

Pseudo secularists at large

2005-05-31T02:27:00.000-07:00

Sonia Gandhi has once again accused the previous NDA government of being communal. In her own words:

"The former Government was a communal Government. It tried to damage the history. The freedom struggle of the country was also distorted."

Reference: Indiainfo

Nothing new in such an accusation by Sonia and other leaders of the ruling UPA. But ironically, this time the supremo of the self-proclaimed secular party was addressing a rally of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a known Islamic Organisation. Rediff has also covered this news in detail. Excerpts from the Rediff article:

Never before had a public rally attracted so many Congressmen in a function other than their own. Not only Congress leaders, including president Sonia Gandhi and her political advisor Ahmed Patel, but also Railway minister Lalu Prashad Yadav and Indian National Lok Dal leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh shared the dais.
It was the 28th general session of a leading Muslim group Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in New Delhi Sunday evening.
The stage was set and speakers after speakers did every bit to woo Muslims who had come here from across the country. The police said it was 300,000-strong gathering at the Ramlila Grounds.Among other Congress leaders were Mohsina Kidwai, Digvijay Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Mani Shankar Aiyer and Shakeel Ahmed Khan.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has a long association with Indian National Congress, an association which started during the freedom struggle. The Congress party has consistently relied on Jamiat to woo its Muslim vote bank. In recent times, it has become a non-political socio-cultural organisation. However, it still retains its identity as an Islamic Organisation, its main agenda being the nation-wide reservation for Muslims in education & jobs. Post Gujrat riots, the Jamiat carried out a protest & jail-bharo movement. The secretary of the group, Maulana Mahmood is quoted in this Tribune article as making the following statement:

“If you desire that the disgraceful chapter of Gujarat is not rewritten, direct your state governments to provide reservation for Muslims in every walk of life."

This proves the Jamiat to be a hard-liner, in principle. How come, then, attending the rally of such an organisation is a secular activity? All the politicians assembled in that rally were worried about their Muslim vote bank and tried their best to retain Muslim voters, as is evident from the speeches offerred by the UPA leaders. Still, they have the audacity to brand themselves as secular. Makes me wonder, how come Advani attending a Janmastami function or Atalji attending a Sadhu-Samavesh make them communal? For the country, the UPA leaders' style of veiled-communalism (or pseduo-secularisim) is definitely as fatal as the Togadia style communalism.

B & B - A big screw up

2005-05-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

There is a big budget movie, built under a very big banner (Yash Raj Films). The producer (Aditya Chopra) is one of the biggest in Bollywood. The star cast includes the like of Amitabh, Abhishek & Rani. The music team comprises of Gulzaar and Shankar-Ehshaan-Loy. Add to that the media super-hype created prior to its release. Could all these efforts together, still manage to make a run-of-the-mill second rated movie? If you don't believe this, go and watch Bunty Aur Babli.

The story is that of Rakesh (Abhishek) and Vimi (Rani). A couple of dreamers from two small towns in UP. They leave their respective homes and meet by chance. Upon discovering that they can't fulfill their dreams in the straight-forward way, they resort to cons. When they embark on this path, they operate under the aliases of Bunty & Babli. At this point of time; after sitting through two average songs, that have been forcibly thrust on the movie; the viewer is eager to witness some well-executed and clever con scenes. Alas, to his utter disappointment the movie takes the Chopra-Johar path. Unnecessary romance, tears & sentiments dominate the screen. Just before interval, DCP Dasrath Singh (Amitabh) make his entry, clad in a bomber jacket, a red gamcha, aviator sun-glasses & smoking a bidi. The rest of the story is about how the police officer chases the duo (most of the chase is conveyed & not shown on screen), stumbles on new clues as to their true identity (again, the unraveling of the clues is just shown, without a bit of logical explanation) and finally catches up with them (how, that still remains a mystery).

Despite all the advantages, the movie turns out to be fairly common place. The plot is a great one. But the writer/script-writer have failed miserably to build upon this. From a con-story, the audience expects cleverly executed theft scenes. But more emphasis is given to the melodrama & romance here. In fact, in one song sequence, they cover 4 or 5 con scenes, none of them shown in a full fledged manner. Even the biggest con-scenes, the selling of the Taj Mahal to a foreigner and swindling of Reserve Bank Gold, is shown in a such a way, it appears the director has scant respect for the intelligence of the audience. When you make a con-movie, the execution of the thefts should be more cleverly done (a classic example would be The Italian Job). Giving undue importance to romance & sentiments instead, is the worst thing the film makers could have come up with.

Amitabh is utterly wasted in his role of the eccentric DCP. It must take real talent (pun intended!) for a director, to cast Amitabh in his movie and still not be able to get the best out of him ! For some unspoken reason, Amitabh keeps changing his dialect from Haryanvi to the UP style Hindi. All of a sudden, he proclaims that now he can think like two criminals he is chasing. Why ? No explanations given. Abhishek scintillates in the few acting opportunities he gets. Rani did not get her chance at all, that's to say any actress could have done the role. A scene where Abhishek & Amitabh drink at a bar and Big B talks about his brief love affair on a Delhi Bus, is well done. What the comic scenes evoke from the audience, is at best a smile, definitely not laughter. In the scene where Amitabh (portrayed as a hardened uncoventional cop), lets the pair go scot-free, does not appear convincing at all. The way his character was built in the movie and the way he is shown to be keen on arresting Bunty & Babli, it seems very unlikely for him to do something of that sort.

The music is average. Apart from the introducing song (Dhadak Dhadak), all other songs deserve low rating. Some of them are, quite literally, ear jarring. The songs appear in the movie out of blue, without any necessity of them. The item number starring Aishwarya (Kajra Re) is one such example. However, Aish looks really gorgeous in the song.

Over all, an average move. Probably, the Chopras should stick to what they are best at. Make movies full of tears/romance/family drama. No need to hide behind the facade of the publicity stunts ("the biggest con movie in Bollywood") and serve the same old melodrama to the public. Experimenting with a different theme is just not their cup of tea. In the hands of a good director & script-writer, the same movie would probably have gone down the annals of bollywood as a classic.

The Perpetual Opposition

2005-05-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

For the economy-aware Indian, the decision of the Central Government to disinvest 10% of BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd) - the creme de la creme of Indian PSUs, came as a pleasant surprise. This marks the beginning of the process of minority stake sale in the profit making PSUs. No wonder, this news instantly made headlines. What also made headlines simultaneously is, the Left's Opposition over the cabinet decision.

Well, tell me something that's new !! Has it ever happened that the Left Parties have refrained from showing dissatisfaction over a progressive policy decision? May be comrades Karat, Surjeet, Yetchuri & Daspugta have collectively forgotten that they are not in the opposition anymore.

The media should change its attitude towards the left parties. May be it should make headlines, only when the left parties don't oppose a sound economic decision. Opposing everything under the sun has become kind of common place for them, hasn't it?

Guardians of the Law or Predators of the Helpless?

2005-05-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

The mere mention of Chennai City Police (especially the traffic wing) makes me sick in the gut. Never have I witnessed such levels of corruption among law enforcers. Dressed in khaki, sworn to uphold the law but they still behave as beggars or robbers, depending on the situation.

Take this for an instance. Say you are a working class person, riding your bike (or car) on your way to work. You had a small accident, without any fault of yours, say with a tri-cycle or bicycle . Never mind whose fault it is, since you are apparently more well-off, in the eyes of the so called law-enforcers, you are always the criminal. You are forced to pay money in lieu of damage(no matter, what the damage to your own vehicle), to the less-well-off individual. By elastically stretching humanity and all other virtues, it may appear OK (after all you are paying a poor guy for the damage done to him). But at the end of it, the traffic officers want their cut of the pie too. Why? Just because they are settling the case outside police station/court. And they dont ask you for the money right away.. (U would not hand it over so easily, would you?). They make you wait there endlessly, keep harassing you with the cooked up formalities, until the time they know that their victim is psycologically harassed enough to give in to the extortion. And if you dont speak Tamil, it becomes easier for them to harass you. At the end of it, all you feel like is just handing them the money, and get out of there. Its a lot of pressure dealing with the police and they always exploit this.

There would not have been issue, if the money in question had gone to the government (in the form of a fine). But it goes straight to the pocket of the guardians of law. There have been cases where the policemen use forged receipt books. So dont get surprised, if a traffic sergent hands you a receipt for Rs 500/- (for some traffic rule violation), and then (after a little bargaining) lets you off with a payment of Rs 100/-. Surely he is not paying the remaining amount from his pocket. And the receipt he gave you is duly signed and stamped. So that means, he is using a forged receipt book (perhaps illegally obtained from the same printing press, which the police dept uses) for his personal income.

My sincere advice. If you are in a car or bike, and you happen to hit a bicycle or tri-cycle rider on the road (and lets say its entirely his fault), still make him some payment on humanitarian grounds and get the hell out of there. Dont ever involve the uniformed guys. It will work out cheaper for you. Since you are better-off than the the other party, its you who should pay. Jungle Law? Pretty much, but cant help it.

Mind & Matter

2005-05-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

Recently read in a friend's email signature:

"Mind over matter or matter over mind; it doesn't really matter if you don't mind".

At first glance it appears to be a good take on Descartes's The Philosophy of Duality (aka The Cartesian Paradigm). On a more serious note, it conveys the fact that once you don't mind, it will save you a lot of trouble. If you know the true worth of a good book (including holy scriptures), someone flushing the book down a toilet should certainly not ruffle you. Once you understand that the true value of your scripture (and religion) resides in your thinking, you will certainly not find the action of a few idiots demeaning to your religion.

Hope some day people will stop minding the trivial.

Chennai - The Evolving City

2005-05-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

Its now close to six years since I am in Chennai - a city that I loathe in many aspects and like in so many others. My early acquaintance with the city was in those days when I was studying at Trichy. For traveling to my hometown in Orissa, I had to change trains at Chennai Central and occasionally had time (while waiting for my connecting train)to visit Spencer Plaza or take a stroll on the Marina Beach. In those days of youthful exuberance, I could never imagine that one day my destiny will lead me to this very city.

When I landed here, at the beginning of my career, my first impression was that of disappointment. The big metropolis, bustling with people, seemed to move at a slow & sedate pace. Much too slow for my taste I guess ! Got cheated by the auto-rickshaw drivers all the time. Faced severe language problem (till date I can barely understand Tamil & can't speak it at all), which I never really came across inside the sanctuary of my college in Trichy. And then, there were stray incidents which opened my eyes to why Chennai is known as a orthodox place. During my initial days of house-hunting (when I could not afford a good rent and still wanted to be in a good locality !), I came across these problems. Met a variety of house-owners. Their conditions for letting out their house was also varied, staring from a restriction on eating non-vegetarian food in the house, to imposing a ban on late returns - things that are quite unheard of in most other parts of India. The restrictions increased many fold, if the prospective tenant had committed the hideous crime of being a bachelor, if at all the land-lord was willing to let out his house to a bachelor in the first place. There was this landlord who asked me questions like "Are you a Hindu ?". "Are you a Brahmin?". "Well sir, I happen to be both but not ready to take your house just because you asked me these questions" - was my response.

Times have changed. Six enduring summers later, I am still in the same city. Except that now I like it more. Not sure if I have got used to it or the city has adapted itself to changing times. I suspect it is a little of both. Friends, who visit Chennai after a long gap, opine that the city has indeed changed.

Being a bachelor does not appear to be a sin in the eyes of the land-lords anymore. Is it because they are more mellow now or I can afford to pay higher rents, is debatable. But I am lucky enough to have an excellent landlord, who has not raised the rent of his house in six years. I have excellent roomies, who are ready to give company in anything I do. In the past six years the place has got a lot of new bars, pubs, lounges, restaurants, coffee-shops & fast food joints. I remember how I used to miss a good watering-hole in the city in my early days. How I forced myself to eat food that I did not like at all, for want of good restaurants in the vicinity. Now I have the option to choose from various pubs, where I can go and unwind after a days work. Its a different issue that most of the pubs wont allow me inside their premises on weekends, just because I don't have a girl with me. But we will talk about that plight of stag-entry some other time. The city which used to be dead at night, now has shops open till late. Outsiders staying in the city dont have to force themselves to eat south indian food now. All these, according to me are positive changes, essential for a multi-ethnic city.

With the upsurge in IT Companies, the traffic has become worse. But its still way better compared to cities like Bangalore. Take this for example. My house is 10 km from where I work. But even in peak traffic, it never takes me more than 25 mins for commute on my motor bike. New companies are allowed to open their offices here in a phased and planned manner. And most of them open shops outside the city limits, with very little impact on the city traffic. With very wide arterial roads, the traffic problem does not become as bad as it should have otherwise become. We have seen what unplanned and uncontrolled growth has done to a city like Bangalore and I am glad it did not happen to Chennai. Yes, prices are getting higher. But people with high salaries & consequently higher purchase power, don't really care for this. The night life is improving. Its still nowhere near to that of Mumbai or Delhi. But nevertheless, far better than what it used to be six years ago.

All said and done, the city is not such a bad place after all. It was horrible six years ago, but has evolved into a more tolerable place over the years. I guess I can manage here. Not for my whole life of course, as I am kind of tired of living in big cities. But for the moment, this city will do just fine. And when in due course of destiny I leave this city, in some small corner of my heart I would still be a Chennaite (sounds better than Madrasi, doesn't it?). Never mind that I still cant speak a word of Tamil and I am still not used to mixing my rice with Rasam.

Gandhi vs Clinton !

2005-05-17T03:48:00.000-07:00

Browsing through bookstores is a past time, that I savor till date and try to do it as frequently as possible. Books, neatly stacked category wise, fill my heart with warmth. So I am a regular at the old Landmark, Chennai. On a recent visit, two different books caught my attention. They were arranged near the entrance in two separate stacks. Both were auto-biographies. The first one was "Living History" by Hillary Clinton. And the second one was "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" by Gandhi. While the former cost a little over Rs 300 for the paper-back version (and six times over for the hard cover), the latter cost only Rs 30 (yeah, u read me right, its thirty rupees) ! A little enquiry revealed that even after heavy subsidy, there were not many takers for the second book. While Hillary's autobiography and that of her more illustrious husband, were selling like hot-cakes.

If this is not irony, then I don't know what is !!

There can't be any two opinions about who lived (and created) more history among the two authors, so I will go for the autobiography of Gandhiji anytime, even if the price tags were reversed. Meanwhile, those who want to get a electronic copy of the Mahatma's autobiography (in English and several other Indian languages) can visit the Official Mahatma Gandhi eArchive.

For The Puzzle Lover !!

2005-05-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

I am an avid puzzle lover. Thats the reason why I am member of a community called "Brain Teasers" at Orkut. While browsing this community, I came across two interesting puzzle sites. I would strongly prescribe them to anyone, who loves solving puzzles.

1. Superatione - A site developed by a brazilian guy called Phillipe. 20 Levels of puzzles.
2. Super-sensation by Sam - An improvement over the first site. Has 20 levels of puzzles.

The former is the original, while the later was created in response to the first one. I liked the later though, as it was much more stimulating. Visit the links for puzzle rules. The rules are very simple though, the puzzles being equally complex. Happy puzzling !!

Too Much Ado !

2005-05-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Been thinking where to start. Then remembered this little conversation I had with my roomies a while ago. Over drinks, someone asked me, what comes to my mind when I think of "Much Ado About Nothing". My immediate answer was "Shah Rukh Khan". A a few drunken moments later I added "Hero Honda Splendor" and "Hotel Sarvana Bhavan" to the list.

Well.. All the three commodities mentioned above belong to the same class of product, whose USP is "opto prismic head-lamps" (Remember the new splendor plus advertisement ?). Here we have a motor bike that wants to sell itself based on new opto prismic headlamps & good looking side indicators (whatever happened to driving comfort, balance, suspension, pick-up etc ??). Here is a bollywood actor with very little acting talent (I dont count the welling-with-tear-eyes & choked-with-emotion-voices seen in Chopra-Johar movies as acting talent), who gets rave reviews as the numero uno of bollywood. Also, there is this hotel Sarvana Bhavan (the denizens of Chennai will be more familiar with this), which thinks they have got a right to charge twice the normal price for a masala dosai, just because they have got a name !!!

So much ado, so little substance !!!!

Another Blog. But why?

2005-05-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Why have a I started a blog ? The answer is simple, to while away the relentless time. Being a small part of the great indian IT revolution, at times I find myself either bored or with very little to do. And in either of this situation, I feel like scribbling something. And what could be better than a blog to scribble some random thoughts?

Why the name? The poem "For Once, Then Something" by Robert Frost has appealed to me always. A small poem, that speaks of greater significance of small things. Similarly, I will be writing abt small things, things that cross my mind, be it politics, sports, movies or media. As this is not a passion (just a past time), I will be irregular, at times irrational and will stop writing when I damn well like.

A little note of disclaimer. Since I am in India, most of my writings will be centered around this country. Wishing myself happy blogging.....